Psalm 62
Vs 1-2 “ I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken.” vs 5-8 “Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me. O my people, trust in Him at all times. Pour out your heart to Him, for God is our refuge.”
So much power, truth and beauty in these words. “I wait quietly before God”. How often do I sit quietly and wait before God? What does that look like? Can you grasp how much self-control it takes to sit quietly and wait before God… without asking for forgiveness, help, or intervention from Him? Shoot, just without talking! How often am I willing to sit quietly and wait? First, waiting takes time. Time that we don’t feel like we have to give. Time, may arguably be our most precious commodity in this country, society, and age. Honestly, “waiting” is probably considered one of the biggest wastes of our time and causes us more frustration than most other things. Second, I have thought for years that waiting for answers to the unknown is one of the hardest things in life. I was reading earlier this week the story of Abraham and Sarah waiting for a child. The commentator wrote, “There probably isn’t anything harder to do than wait.”. Finally someone said it! Waiting is hard. Waiting shows us that we are not in control. A lot of times when we wait, we are powerless to do anything to change the situation or make the process move any faster. Hmmm… I wonder why God asks us to wait before Him?
When we are willing to use one of our most precious commodities, time, and put our hearts in the proper place of knowing we can’t control our own circumstances we are in the prime place to hear what God wants to tell us. I want to challenge you today to try this. Take 2-5 minutes this morning to sit quietly before God. (If you are anything like me, you will probably have to start over several times as your mind will wander to anything but waiting on God…and you may need to look at a clock. I can easily lie to myself about how long two minutes actually is.) Just try it today to see if it is a valuable practice that needs to be implemented on your calendar on a regular basis.
“ My hope is in Him, He is my rock, my salvation, my fortress and my refuge. Trust in Him at all times and pour out your heart to Him, He is our refuge.” What can I not face with these truths? I need these words in front of me all of the time! It is so easy to get sidetracked with responsibilities, activities, and schedules. A lot of life, because we need to concentrate and think on other things to complete tasks, pulls us away from thinking on these truths. I want to live my days mindful that my hope is in Him. I want to remember to pour out my heart to Him instead of worrying, telling a friend or complaining about my circumstances. I want to trust Him at all times instead of spending hours trying to figure out how to solve a situation. I want to remember His love for me and every person He created as I interact with others. I want to run to Him first when I think I’ve been wronged, scared or misunderstood.